I was watching some Saturday Morning cartoons when I saw this commercial for a "Duel Action Lightsaber", basically a lightsaber with a hidden smaller lightsaber hidden in the hilt. The second saber can be attached to the main one to make it a double-ended lightsaber, reminiscent of the one that Darth Maul uses in The Phantom Menace.
The product itself is pretty cool, but the name sends waves of irritation through me, as "Duel Wielding" is a common mistake when people are trying to type out "Dual Wielding" To have a product that is called "Duel Action" featuring 2 sabers is just terrible.
Sure the lightsabers are meant for duelling, but "Duel Action" with 2 blades, what the hell were they thinking? Way to perpetuate the mispelling of Dual as Duel.
You can see in the commercial that later on, someone tried to deflect the mistake by printing out "Dual Bladed" onscreen for the 2-bladed mode, but more likely than not, someone up higher thought that Duel Action was the correct version and wanted to keep it, regardless of the implication that no one in the company can spell.
Bunch of corporate yahoos.
Allen.
Saturday, December 12, 2009
Wednesday, September 30, 2009
Blog-Slacking
Just doing the usual routine of going to work, going home, and hitting the computer a bit.
We planted a bunch of tulip bulbs in the front garden so we'll see what the results look like in the spring. This is kind of a reminder to myself to take some pictures of them when the time comes.
I haven't fixed the car yet, but one of our neighbours is a mechanic and kindly offered to look up the cost of a couple of parts for me, which I accepted. He said that bending out a couple of panels would be easy enough too. Hopefully we'll clean it up before the winter.
I was thinking that getting a bigger car would be a good change, maybe with all-wheel drive. Nothing as big as the Jeep we used to have, but I'd probably feel better if we got rid of one of our little cars, after all we have the baby on the way and it'd be reassuring to have a vehicle that won't be crumpled like a napkin in a serious crash.
We planted a bunch of tulip bulbs in the front garden so we'll see what the results look like in the spring. This is kind of a reminder to myself to take some pictures of them when the time comes.
I haven't fixed the car yet, but one of our neighbours is a mechanic and kindly offered to look up the cost of a couple of parts for me, which I accepted. He said that bending out a couple of panels would be easy enough too. Hopefully we'll clean it up before the winter.
I was thinking that getting a bigger car would be a good change, maybe with all-wheel drive. Nothing as big as the Jeep we used to have, but I'd probably feel better if we got rid of one of our little cars, after all we have the baby on the way and it'd be reassuring to have a vehicle that won't be crumpled like a napkin in a serious crash.
Monday, August 31, 2009
Smash
Had a bit of a car accident last week. I was coming home from a corporate class downtown, and I tail ended someone in the rush hour highway stop-and-go. Just after I changed lanes, the row ahead suddenly slammed on the brakes, and I was "too close" during the lane change to stop in time. I slammed on my brakes but I skidded (no ABS) into the car ahead. The damage looks about the same on both cars. A cop came by after and helped us straighten out the info for the collision reporting centre, and said the damage was probably in the neighbourhood of $2000 per car. The auto shops agreed with him when I got a repair appraisal done.
I didn't want to bother fixing it. (3rd party liability insurance) The car is probably worth less than $5000 already. All the electrical components still worked, so I set about replacing the missing plastic signal cowl masterfully with a plastic CD cover, speaker wire and some duct tape.
I wonder how much the insurance rates are going to go up by at the next renewal.
I notice that I'm leaving much more space in front as I drive now, and that I get stressed more easily if I have to drive during rush hour.
NO I HAVE NOT CRACKED OPEN THE DUTY FREE ALCOHOL YET.
Allen.
Monday, August 10, 2009
New York Sunday
Well we spent the rest of the weekend driving ourselves around New York City, we got tired of the whole taxi/shuttle business. It was an adventure of a different sort, related to parking tickets and a GPS that didn't know how to plot the way to the new Yankee Stadium.
We headed off in the morning to Manhattan Island again with a few destinations in mind. Gray's Papaya to break fast, the Carnegie Deli for lunch, a visit to Central Park, some shopping at B&H Electronics. (and of course, the Yankees game we'd gone to NY for in the first place)
The hot dogs in New York definitely taste a lot better than the hot dogs we get from the street vendors around here in Toronto. They remind me of smokies or bratwursts. Also they are not the jumbo things we get here, they actually are small enough to fit into a regular small hot dog bun. I'm told that getting a hot dog and a papaya juice is a classic new york meal. Gray's Papaya was the place we tried. They had a really tasty sauteed onion topping.
Here's their juice selection - tasted pretty decent
These were really tasty hot dogs. They were so good, we went back for more a second day
We walked all over the area south of Central park, there was a lot of shopping and a lot of people. By the time we wound our way up to the Carnegie Deli, we had worked up a bit of an appetite. However we were not prepared at all for the serious amounts of mouthwatering deli that awaited us.
I ordered a hot pastrami sandwich, and it was absolutely mountainous. Every bite was melt-in-your-mouth greasy goodness. Neither E or I could finish our sandwiches, running out of steam on the last quarter. F didn't even try to start the 2nd half.
Ordering a plate of onion rings and potato latkes on top of the 3 sandwiches was a bit of a mistake, but we couldn't pass them up. They were both excellent though - the rings were freshly battered and fried, and the latkes have put every other latke I've ever had to shame. (though admittedly I haven't had too many latkes before)
Afterwards we walked around Central Park to work off some of our lunch. We saw the John Lennon memorial mosaic, which was pretty nice:
After walking around Central Park for a good while, we decided to head to the B&H Electronics store was. F decided to take the transit to get there earlier. E and I walked, to get some more sights in on the way down, while F did his shopping.
We had some really bad smoothies at a Jamba Juice while taking a small break. I had a peach and E had a mango, and both of them tasted like ground-up cheap pez candy slush, with no real juice at all. Don't go there. Especially since the stuff costs more than the 2-hotdog and juice combo at Gray's Papaya. Something blew up in their preparation area and flooded the store with water (water, not juice) while we were there. I figured it was karma for selling us these gross drinks, I had to throw mine out before I finished a quarter of it. They also didn't have a washroom for customers. What the heck, Jamba people?!
Anyways we eventually got down to the B&H Electronics. They have a really cool system for delivering stock from the different departments over to the checkout - there was a motorized conveyor belt system overhead delivering green bins.
Did I mention they had a ton of everything there? It was incredible how much selection was available from TVs to professional mixing equipment, to astronomy telescopes. The only thing a little weird was the store hours - a huge electronics store that isn't open on Friday afternoon/evening or Saturday? I later heard that it was to observe the Jewish Sabbath though. I didn't know that religion played that much a role in running businesses these days.
After we wrapped up at the electronics store, we headed out to the Yankees game at the new stadium. It took a bit of trial and error since the GPS kept trying to direct us to the old stadium. While they are literally next door to each other, the available routes seems to have changed.
It was a pretty good game - The Red Sox were on top for a bit, and the Yankees took the lead in the end. Everyone was actually up out of their seats for the whole last inning and a half. Btw, we all got carded again for the beer we bought, each one of us at a separate area in the stadium.
Monday - we spent it driving back, basically. We stopped back in Manhattan to pick up some a custom order jersey for E, and I wanted another pastrami sandwich to bring back to Toronto. (it was that good and I wanted Kathy to try some, haha) Things were pretty uneventful, but we were happy that it was so, we were all pretty tired out from that crazy Sunday. We hit the highways - a couple of Timmies coffee breaks in between the driving, and we were back in Toronto.
Allen.
P.s. - Duty free alcohol is such a great deal. And they didn't card us either. :D
We headed off in the morning to Manhattan Island again with a few destinations in mind. Gray's Papaya to break fast, the Carnegie Deli for lunch, a visit to Central Park, some shopping at B&H Electronics. (and of course, the Yankees game we'd gone to NY for in the first place)
The hot dogs in New York definitely taste a lot better than the hot dogs we get from the street vendors around here in Toronto. They remind me of smokies or bratwursts. Also they are not the jumbo things we get here, they actually are small enough to fit into a regular small hot dog bun. I'm told that getting a hot dog and a papaya juice is a classic new york meal. Gray's Papaya was the place we tried. They had a really tasty sauteed onion topping.
Here's their juice selection - tasted pretty decent
These were really tasty hot dogs. They were so good, we went back for more a second dayWe walked all over the area south of Central park, there was a lot of shopping and a lot of people. By the time we wound our way up to the Carnegie Deli, we had worked up a bit of an appetite. However we were not prepared at all for the serious amounts of mouthwatering deli that awaited us.
I ordered a hot pastrami sandwich, and it was absolutely mountainous. Every bite was melt-in-your-mouth greasy goodness. Neither E or I could finish our sandwiches, running out of steam on the last quarter. F didn't even try to start the 2nd half.
Ordering a plate of onion rings and potato latkes on top of the 3 sandwiches was a bit of a mistake, but we couldn't pass them up. They were both excellent though - the rings were freshly battered and fried, and the latkes have put every other latke I've ever had to shame. (though admittedly I haven't had too many latkes before)
Afterwards we walked around Central Park to work off some of our lunch. We saw the John Lennon memorial mosaic, which was pretty nice:
After walking around Central Park for a good while, we decided to head to the B&H Electronics store was. F decided to take the transit to get there earlier. E and I walked, to get some more sights in on the way down, while F did his shopping.
We had some really bad smoothies at a Jamba Juice while taking a small break. I had a peach and E had a mango, and both of them tasted like ground-up cheap pez candy slush, with no real juice at all. Don't go there. Especially since the stuff costs more than the 2-hotdog and juice combo at Gray's Papaya. Something blew up in their preparation area and flooded the store with water (water, not juice) while we were there. I figured it was karma for selling us these gross drinks, I had to throw mine out before I finished a quarter of it. They also didn't have a washroom for customers. What the heck, Jamba people?!
Anyways we eventually got down to the B&H Electronics. They have a really cool system for delivering stock from the different departments over to the checkout - there was a motorized conveyor belt system overhead delivering green bins.
Did I mention they had a ton of everything there? It was incredible how much selection was available from TVs to professional mixing equipment, to astronomy telescopes. The only thing a little weird was the store hours - a huge electronics store that isn't open on Friday afternoon/evening or Saturday? I later heard that it was to observe the Jewish Sabbath though. I didn't know that religion played that much a role in running businesses these days.
After we wrapped up at the electronics store, we headed out to the Yankees game at the new stadium. It took a bit of trial and error since the GPS kept trying to direct us to the old stadium. While they are literally next door to each other, the available routes seems to have changed.
It was a pretty good game - The Red Sox were on top for a bit, and the Yankees took the lead in the end. Everyone was actually up out of their seats for the whole last inning and a half. Btw, we all got carded again for the beer we bought, each one of us at a separate area in the stadium.
Monday - we spent it driving back, basically. We stopped back in Manhattan to pick up some a custom order jersey for E, and I wanted another pastrami sandwich to bring back to Toronto. (it was that good and I wanted Kathy to try some, haha) Things were pretty uneventful, but we were happy that it was so, we were all pretty tired out from that crazy Sunday. We hit the highways - a couple of Timmies coffee breaks in between the driving, and we were back in Toronto.
Allen.
P.s. - Duty free alcohol is such a great deal. And they didn't card us either. :D
Sunday, August 9, 2009
More NY
We got to New York in the evening - our hotel is just outside of Manhattan, so we took a shuttle bus over to check out Times Square. People there drive as if crazy, 4 rows of cars in 3 lanes of traffic. Driving in left turn lanes to cut back into the regular lanes at the front. It was never this road-rage aggressive and uncivilized even in the asian cities I've been in, they are absolutely barbaric here.
Anyways, we walked around the Times Square area and it was pretty cool. We saw some famous eats and sights, although the restaurant we stopped at, one of a number of Tad's Steak places, was not that good. I wouldn't recommend the gristly steaks they serve there or their rare-cooked 'chopped steak' burgers. We also got carded for the beer we had. I guess we look under 21 even though E is going to be FORTY in a few more years.
I also tried some of the chicken skewers/kebabs they have at the street vendors, and while it was tasty (better than the restaurant, in fact) it did not settle very well. So I downed a bottle of coke, reasoning that it would dissolve it, and it seems to be working.
After we got back to the hotel, the three of us flipped coins to see who got beds and who got the folding cot - I'm the unlucky one who gets the cot. Oh well. >_<
Tomorrow we will hit a deli for lunch and then catch the baseball game.
Allen.
Anyways, we walked around the Times Square area and it was pretty cool. We saw some famous eats and sights, although the restaurant we stopped at, one of a number of Tad's Steak places, was not that good. I wouldn't recommend the gristly steaks they serve there or their rare-cooked 'chopped steak' burgers. We also got carded for the beer we had. I guess we look under 21 even though E is going to be FORTY in a few more years.
I also tried some of the chicken skewers/kebabs they have at the street vendors, and while it was tasty (better than the restaurant, in fact) it did not settle very well. So I downed a bottle of coke, reasoning that it would dissolve it, and it seems to be working.
After we got back to the hotel, the three of us flipped coins to see who got beds and who got the folding cot - I'm the unlucky one who gets the cot. Oh well. >_<
Tomorrow we will hit a deli for lunch and then catch the baseball game.
Allen.
Saturday, August 8, 2009
On the road to New York
This weekend, E and F and I are heading down to NY,NY to catch a Yankees game and bum around.
We rented a full size car for the smoother ride, and left this morning.
The border crossing was packed when we arrived, and took almost an hour of queuing to get through. We burned as much gas waiting as we did getting to the border.
I didn't realize how many Tim Hortons there are on the route. There is a Timmys every highway rest stop. We stopped at one at lunch. The medium coffee here is the large one back home.
Cheers eh,
Allen.
--
Sent from my mobile device
Friday, July 31, 2009
Street Fighter - The Legend of Chun Li
Why do I always waste my time trying to watch these horrible, horrible movies?
Why do so many video game movies suck so badly?
Allen.
Thursday, July 30, 2009
Free Stuff on your Birthday
My birthday is coming up and I was looking up places that offer free stuff around Toronto.
What-a-Bagel apparently will give you a dozen bagels free on your birthday.
Tucker's Marketplace offers a free buffet dinner on your birthday even if you go by yourself. I don't really understand the business reasons for doing that, but okay. Tucker's isn't that great of a buffet. (Frankie Tomatto's is a bit better, though they don't offer a free birthday meal any more)
Benihana's in the US will give you a free dinner (up to $30US) during your birthday month, if you sign up on their website. I used my spam-mail address. Its not in Toronto, but I'm going down to New York during my birthday month. :D
Baskin Robbins gives a free scoop of ice cream. There are separate US and Canadian mailing list sites, so be sure you're on the Canadian one.
Tony Roma's (2 of them, one near the Airport and the other in Mississauga) give a free dinner as well, up to 18.99, as well as a fried? onion loaf. It doesn't have to be on the birth day itself, it gives a leeway of about 2 weeks it seems. However, it asked me to specify which one, and I listed the Mississauga one for some reason - and the email coupon they sent specified Mississauga only. Doh.
Casey's seems to have a free entree up to $15.99. However there seems to be a lot of posting about how some do, and some don't, so I dont think I'll bother, I'm not too fond of Casey's food anyways.
Denny's is in the same case as Casey's - apparently some do and some don't. I actually like greasy spoons like Denny's, so I called the ones in Mississauga and Brampton. The Mississauga one says they offer a free meal for the birthday person, and the Brampton one says they offer a free dessert, if you buy 2 meals and 2 drinks.
Allen.
What-a-Bagel apparently will give you a dozen bagels free on your birthday.
Tucker's Marketplace offers a free buffet dinner on your birthday even if you go by yourself. I don't really understand the business reasons for doing that, but okay. Tucker's isn't that great of a buffet. (Frankie Tomatto's is a bit better, though they don't offer a free birthday meal any more)
Benihana's in the US will give you a free dinner (up to $30US) during your birthday month, if you sign up on their website. I used my spam-mail address. Its not in Toronto, but I'm going down to New York during my birthday month. :D
Baskin Robbins gives a free scoop of ice cream. There are separate US and Canadian mailing list sites, so be sure you're on the Canadian one.
Tony Roma's (2 of them, one near the Airport and the other in Mississauga) give a free dinner as well, up to 18.99, as well as a fried? onion loaf. It doesn't have to be on the birth day itself, it gives a leeway of about 2 weeks it seems. However, it asked me to specify which one, and I listed the Mississauga one for some reason - and the email coupon they sent specified Mississauga only. Doh.
Casey's seems to have a free entree up to $15.99. However there seems to be a lot of posting about how some do, and some don't, so I dont think I'll bother, I'm not too fond of Casey's food anyways.
Denny's is in the same case as Casey's - apparently some do and some don't. I actually like greasy spoons like Denny's, so I called the ones in Mississauga and Brampton. The Mississauga one says they offer a free meal for the birthday person, and the Brampton one says they offer a free dessert, if you buy 2 meals and 2 drinks.
Allen.
Wednesday, July 29, 2009
Tai Chi 3rd term is coming to a close
Last week our tai chi class finished teaching all the moves for Chen style 1st form. There are enough moves and repeated sections that I'm somewhat confused about which section follows which. It would probably help if the course taught the names of the moves, so we can join moves together by their names, not just by rote action.
The names are available on their website, which is pretty decent. I don't know why they didn't translate Jingang as "Guardian" or "Sentinel", but left it with a Cantonese phonetic "King-Kong". What are we, giant apes and gorillas?
They also have a book that I purchased, that shows the moves along with the name, but the pictures don't really do justice to the maneuvers, sometimes its hard to match up the pictures to them.
I probably should practice more as well. I've been bad about it lately, and have been only doing tai chi while in the class.
This weekend there is a review, then a few weeks off. The Chen Refinement class starts in the fall, where we'll start focusing on fa jing, the characteristic bursts of energy associated with Chen style.
Allen.
The names are available on their website, which is pretty decent. I don't know why they didn't translate Jingang as "Guardian" or "Sentinel", but left it with a Cantonese phonetic "King-Kong". What are we, giant apes and gorillas?
They also have a book that I purchased, that shows the moves along with the name, but the pictures don't really do justice to the maneuvers, sometimes its hard to match up the pictures to them.
I probably should practice more as well. I've been bad about it lately, and have been only doing tai chi while in the class.
This weekend there is a review, then a few weeks off. The Chen Refinement class starts in the fall, where we'll start focusing on fa jing, the characteristic bursts of energy associated with Chen style.
Allen.
Friday, July 17, 2009
Writing Chinese on the PC
Mom was asking about Chinese input on the PC so I promised I'd look up one of those writing pad systems for her. I knew that Pacific Mall usually has them for sale at some store or another, and sure enough, I wasn't disappointed. I picked up one of these USB pads for $50+tax:
蒙恬科技 Penpower 晶鑽小蒙恬
It supports Simplified Chinese, HK Chinese, Traditional Chinese and even some Japanese. It will voice what you write in your choice of Cantonese or Mandarin. Seems to be a pretty friendly device and even recognises my chicken-scratches as appropriate Chinese characters. Software installation was as simple as popping in a CD and a reboot, then plugging in the pad.
Anyways, I am done playing with it and hopefully Mom will be able to make use of it.
Allen.
Wednesday, July 8, 2009
Moto Guzzi
This is the sort of motorcycle I like:
Its not a cruiser or a sport bike - it's a standard model. But funny enough, there are hardly any bikes around like this any more. This one is "new" for 2009 I think, and it comes in 2 colours I know of - white or black. Attach a nice sidecar to this and I would be totally happy. :D
Allen.
Its not a cruiser or a sport bike - it's a standard model. But funny enough, there are hardly any bikes around like this any more. This one is "new" for 2009 I think, and it comes in 2 colours I know of - white or black. Attach a nice sidecar to this and I would be totally happy. :D
Allen.
Tuesday, June 30, 2009
The Crayfish Died
Our crayfish flipped upside down and died. It was sort of a sad thing.
The worst part of it was the smell - it managed to pollute the whole fish tank with a nasty fishy stink and half our house by the time I'd found it dead. So it necessitated a major water change for the remaining fish and a ahead-of-schedule fish tank/pump cleaning.
I'm wondering how it happened. Maybe it was just near the end of it's lifespan? They are supposed to live about 2 years and ours was about that age. Maybe I put in too much fish food? I'd dropped a bunch of watercress at the top of the tank for the fish like usual, except perhaps in a slightly larger volume. The fish were really making short work of it, and putting out a ton of poop, which could have overwhelmed the crayfish.
Anyways, it was sort of gross, but we dealt with it and now we just have the surviving 5 fish that were originally meant for a crayfish snack.
Allen.
The worst part of it was the smell - it managed to pollute the whole fish tank with a nasty fishy stink and half our house by the time I'd found it dead. So it necessitated a major water change for the remaining fish and a ahead-of-schedule fish tank/pump cleaning.
I'm wondering how it happened. Maybe it was just near the end of it's lifespan? They are supposed to live about 2 years and ours was about that age. Maybe I put in too much fish food? I'd dropped a bunch of watercress at the top of the tank for the fish like usual, except perhaps in a slightly larger volume. The fish were really making short work of it, and putting out a ton of poop, which could have overwhelmed the crayfish.
Anyways, it was sort of gross, but we dealt with it and now we just have the surviving 5 fish that were originally meant for a crayfish snack.
Allen.
Wednesday, June 17, 2009
Scooter and Riding
I've started to ride my Vino 125 to work again, when the weather is nice. I could say a thing or two about the gas prices which are currently up at $1.03 Canadian per litre, but its more about the amusement factor than the gas savings.
The battery died over the course of the winter and I haven't been able to revive it. I've been kickstarting until I replaced the battery yesterday. The replacement process wasn't too difficult, everything was located in a pretty easy to reach location under the foot panelling. All I needed was a Phillips screwdriver.
Maybe I should trade it in for something a little heavier, since 125cc doesn't meet the 400-series highway requirement of 250cc. I'm not quite sure where I read that any more, but 125cc only gets me up to about 80 kmph anyway, which is not good enough for the highway. I wonder what the trade in value would be, or if it's better to just sell it privately. I'm probably better off with the latter.
Allen.
Tuesday, June 16, 2009
Wheel rims
...or more specifically, the lack thereof.
Here's a bit of an annoyance - In mid-May, I ordered a set of 4 steel rims from Canadian Tire. I paid $300, and they said they would let me know when it comes in.
About a month goes by with me inquiring every so often, and eventually, someone admits that they are typically not available until the end of fall. You know, when the winter tire rush starts coming in. They apologized and said they would order it directly from a manufacturer, and it should arrive on Monday or Tuesday, given that it was Friday morning when I called them. So I dropped by the store on Tuesday, and there was still nothing there.
At least I could cancel the order and get a refund.
Allen.
Here's a bit of an annoyance - In mid-May, I ordered a set of 4 steel rims from Canadian Tire. I paid $300, and they said they would let me know when it comes in.
About a month goes by with me inquiring every so often, and eventually, someone admits that they are typically not available until the end of fall. You know, when the winter tire rush starts coming in. They apologized and said they would order it directly from a manufacturer, and it should arrive on Monday or Tuesday, given that it was Friday morning when I called them. So I dropped by the store on Tuesday, and there was still nothing there.
At least I could cancel the order and get a refund.
Allen.
Sunday, June 14, 2009
Copacabana!
D called up the other day and asked me if I wanted to try out this Brazillian BBQ restaurant in Toronto with some of the guys. Now I have some pretty good memories of the time I went to the Pampas in Las Vegas, so I said I'd go.
At a Brazillian BBQ, they bring skewers of all sorts of BBQ out to your table, and you tell the server if you want something or not. Then they carve pieces off the skewer for you right to your plate. Usually they have some sort of signalling system in place if you want a break from being offered all sorts of BBQed goodness. Eat till you are full, cause it is all you can eat.
I got there there a bit early for the reservation so I sat down at the bar and started on a Stella. It was a cool looking place, sort of the happening-spot type of place you'd find in a restaurant geared for people in their early 30s. The music was loud but not so loud that you can't talk to other people, cause K and T found me at the bar and we talked and joked about this and that until Don and a few others showed up.
Once everyone was there, we ordered some drinks and started on their salad & buffet. It wasn't really a huge selection but what they had was fresh. It wasn't really the main attraction after all. The rosemary bread was nice. The smoked salmon seemed like it was out for a while. There was a good creamy turkey stroganoff dish meant to go with rice. I enjoyed that, though I'm not sure how, er, Brazillian it is.
There was a bad spot where the willowy waiter taking care of our table's drinks spilled half a tray of drinks on a couple of people at our table. They were the easygoing sort though, and they just laughed it off. The manager came out and apologized for the incident. In the end we were given complimentary desserts, but we were way too full of bbq by then. So we passed on it.
Speaking of the barbecue, it came nice and full of flavour. Bacon wrapped filet mignon or turkey, rib eye steak, sirloin, prime rib. I think they need to have more pineapple coming around, that always was in demand and we didn't actually get any for the first 3/4ths of our meal. I had to ask for some lamb too cause all we saw was beef, but they were prompt in getting some lamb chops out right away so I have no complaints. I think they could have done with some sausages or something but I was quite satisfied with the food.
The bbq servers were a bit on the rough side, all spartan macho guys with tattoos and muscles. They didn't have a deferential, polite waiter approach to serving food - no "would you care for some prime rib" or "here you go sirs" here, they were all a laconic "This is Sirloin." (imagine Rambo saying it while spearing a skewer into your table top) or "Is there anything else you're looking for." It was kind of weird, but they were efficient.
I imagine that this would be a hard restaurant to rob, with all these tough guy servers stalking around the restaurant with skewers and carving knives.
Oh they had live music too. I'd read that they have dancing and capoiera performances sometimes, but on Sunday we were treated to jazzifed 80s pop. Not my thing, but people were enjoying it.
All in all it was enjoyable, but I'm not sure I'd go back. My share cost $55 for the food and drink, which is actually more than I paid in Vegas.
Allen.
At a Brazillian BBQ, they bring skewers of all sorts of BBQ out to your table, and you tell the server if you want something or not. Then they carve pieces off the skewer for you right to your plate. Usually they have some sort of signalling system in place if you want a break from being offered all sorts of BBQed goodness. Eat till you are full, cause it is all you can eat.
I got there there a bit early for the reservation so I sat down at the bar and started on a Stella. It was a cool looking place, sort of the happening-spot type of place you'd find in a restaurant geared for people in their early 30s. The music was loud but not so loud that you can't talk to other people, cause K and T found me at the bar and we talked and joked about this and that until Don and a few others showed up.
Once everyone was there, we ordered some drinks and started on their salad & buffet. It wasn't really a huge selection but what they had was fresh. It wasn't really the main attraction after all. The rosemary bread was nice. The smoked salmon seemed like it was out for a while. There was a good creamy turkey stroganoff dish meant to go with rice. I enjoyed that, though I'm not sure how, er, Brazillian it is.
There was a bad spot where the willowy waiter taking care of our table's drinks spilled half a tray of drinks on a couple of people at our table. They were the easygoing sort though, and they just laughed it off. The manager came out and apologized for the incident. In the end we were given complimentary desserts, but we were way too full of bbq by then. So we passed on it.
Speaking of the barbecue, it came nice and full of flavour. Bacon wrapped filet mignon or turkey, rib eye steak, sirloin, prime rib. I think they need to have more pineapple coming around, that always was in demand and we didn't actually get any for the first 3/4ths of our meal. I had to ask for some lamb too cause all we saw was beef, but they were prompt in getting some lamb chops out right away so I have no complaints. I think they could have done with some sausages or something but I was quite satisfied with the food.
The bbq servers were a bit on the rough side, all spartan macho guys with tattoos and muscles. They didn't have a deferential, polite waiter approach to serving food - no "would you care for some prime rib" or "here you go sirs" here, they were all a laconic "This is Sirloin." (imagine Rambo saying it while spearing a skewer into your table top) or "Is there anything else you're looking for." It was kind of weird, but they were efficient.
I imagine that this would be a hard restaurant to rob, with all these tough guy servers stalking around the restaurant with skewers and carving knives.
Oh they had live music too. I'd read that they have dancing and capoiera performances sometimes, but on Sunday we were treated to jazzifed 80s pop. Not my thing, but people were enjoying it.
All in all it was enjoyable, but I'm not sure I'd go back. My share cost $55 for the food and drink, which is actually more than I paid in Vegas.
Allen.
Sunday, May 24, 2009
Anti-wasp measures
Wasps started building a nest on our back door again.
A couple years ago I figured out a decent solution for keeping them from doing it, after checking out what other people on the web do. We just hadn't gotten around to putting one up this year. They build every year otherwise. This time they'd just started and I pinched it off while it was still just 2 empty cells. Sort of wish I'd taken a picture, oh well. I don't know why they like our door so much, none of the other townhouses in the row seem to have this problem.
Anyways, what I do is stuff a paper lunch bag with other scrunched up plastic and paper bags, and shape it into a cone. Then I tie off the top with a couple of twist ties, and stick it up on the wall by the door.
Scouting wasps think that the bag is some other wasp's nest, and they don't consider it a valid building site. They don't build new nests in other wasps' territories.
This has worked for the past two years without any problems. Here's some pictures, its neither stylish nor glamourous, but it keeps the wasps away.
Allen.
A couple years ago I figured out a decent solution for keeping them from doing it, after checking out what other people on the web do. We just hadn't gotten around to putting one up this year. They build every year otherwise. This time they'd just started and I pinched it off while it was still just 2 empty cells. Sort of wish I'd taken a picture, oh well. I don't know why they like our door so much, none of the other townhouses in the row seem to have this problem.
Anyways, what I do is stuff a paper lunch bag with other scrunched up plastic and paper bags, and shape it into a cone. Then I tie off the top with a couple of twist ties, and stick it up on the wall by the door.
Scouting wasps think that the bag is some other wasp's nest, and they don't consider it a valid building site. They don't build new nests in other wasps' territories.
This has worked for the past two years without any problems. Here's some pictures, its neither stylish nor glamourous, but it keeps the wasps away.
Allen.
Sunday, May 17, 2009
Bagels Nom Nom Nom
We went to the supermarket in the afternoon today, but we'd neglected to get a bag of bagels. Since I didn't feel like going out to another market, I decided to make some at home.
I dug up a nice recipe at The Hub that didn't require anything particularly special. Just 6 common ingredients, no milk or eggs or anything fancy. It was interesting cause I'd never made bagels before, and the whole idea of boiling the dough first before baking was weird to say the least.
I didn't measure exactly according to recipe - I added a cup of oat bran since we had some around, and went up to ~ 2 cups of water to compensate. I also added a sprinkling of sesame seeds as well.
Here's the basic recipe:
4 cups flour
1 tbsp sugar
2 tsp salt
1 tbsp oil
2 tsp instant yeast
1.5 cups warm water.
Put all the dry ingredients in a mixing bowl. Poke a dent in the middle and put the oil in there.
Then add the water a bit at a time, making the dough in the middle of your dry ingredients, adding more water to soak up more flour from the sides into your dough. Once most of the flour in in your dough, turn it out onto your clean countertop. Knead till you're happy with it, about ten minutes or so. Let it relax for about 20 minutes after.
Divide the dough into 8 pieces and roll them into cylinders about twice the width of your hand. Loop each piece around and press the ends together in a doughnut shape. Or you can roll it into a long snake and cut off pieces as needed for the bagel loops. Let them rise for a bit, maybe 15 minutes. For me, by the time I had done the last one, the first one was ready to be boiled.
Boil some water in a pot and drop in your bagels, a few at a time, don't crowd them. I did them 3 at once. I left them in the boiling water for about a minute and a half, then flipped them over to boil for the same. I scooped them out and dropped them on an oiled baking sheet to wait for the the next batch to be boiled.
Once all that is done, put them in an oven preheated to 425 Fahrenheit till they're a colour you're happy with. For me it was about 25 minutes uninterrupted baking time.
Anyways, here are the results, they turned out pretty nicely!
I tried several ways - punched down and not punched down, poked-hole (left) and looped snakes (right)
End notes: I like the way the looped-snake style bagels look nicer than the poked-hole ones. (You can see the poked-hole ones in the upper left, and second from the left in the bottom row) They have the same nice and chewy texture when eaten though. The punched down bagels dont have big air bubbles inside.
Allen.
I dug up a nice recipe at The Hub that didn't require anything particularly special. Just 6 common ingredients, no milk or eggs or anything fancy. It was interesting cause I'd never made bagels before, and the whole idea of boiling the dough first before baking was weird to say the least.
I didn't measure exactly according to recipe - I added a cup of oat bran since we had some around, and went up to ~ 2 cups of water to compensate. I also added a sprinkling of sesame seeds as well.
Here's the basic recipe:
4 cups flour
1 tbsp sugar
2 tsp salt
1 tbsp oil
2 tsp instant yeast
1.5 cups warm water.
Put all the dry ingredients in a mixing bowl. Poke a dent in the middle and put the oil in there.
Then add the water a bit at a time, making the dough in the middle of your dry ingredients, adding more water to soak up more flour from the sides into your dough. Once most of the flour in in your dough, turn it out onto your clean countertop. Knead till you're happy with it, about ten minutes or so. Let it relax for about 20 minutes after.
Divide the dough into 8 pieces and roll them into cylinders about twice the width of your hand. Loop each piece around and press the ends together in a doughnut shape. Or you can roll it into a long snake and cut off pieces as needed for the bagel loops. Let them rise for a bit, maybe 15 minutes. For me, by the time I had done the last one, the first one was ready to be boiled.
Boil some water in a pot and drop in your bagels, a few at a time, don't crowd them. I did them 3 at once. I left them in the boiling water for about a minute and a half, then flipped them over to boil for the same. I scooped them out and dropped them on an oiled baking sheet to wait for the the next batch to be boiled.
Once all that is done, put them in an oven preheated to 425 Fahrenheit till they're a colour you're happy with. For me it was about 25 minutes uninterrupted baking time.
Anyways, here are the results, they turned out pretty nicely!
I tried several ways - punched down and not punched down, poked-hole (left) and looped snakes (right)
End notes: I like the way the looped-snake style bagels look nicer than the poked-hole ones. (You can see the poked-hole ones in the upper left, and second from the left in the bottom row) They have the same nice and chewy texture when eaten though. The punched down bagels dont have big air bubbles inside.
Allen.
Wednesday, May 13, 2009
Living Room Changes
I picked up a wall mounting system for my LCD television. I'd always meant to, ever since we got the LCD, but I've always balked at the $300-$400 price tag on the nice swingarm mounting systems from Future Shop or Best Buy. However recently I picked up a Costco membership, and I saw the swingarms on sale there for less than $150. I snapped one up the instant I saw it.
There were a ton of parts that I didn't need in the kit, meant for every TV mount under the sun - I lucked out and ended up only needing the basic parts, none of the extensions were required. It was pretty straightforward, the parts were easy to assemble, and I have a ultrasonic stud finder to locate the wooden sections of the wall I had to drill into. There were plastic tubes that could stick to the wall to hold the cables running to the TV, which was very convenient. The only challenge was measuring out how high on the wall to mount the bracket, to make it the same height as before.
This wall bracket freed up an incredible amount of space in our living room. During the time Kathy was away in China, I had replaced the old TV stand with a full sized table for convenience. I used it to hold both the TV and a computer setup. Having the table space meant I used it as a table, so it was always a bit of a mess. And the space under the table was often used as storage, which was also not very pleasing to the eye. The TV was also offset to the right of centre compared to the couch. The worst part of this temporary arrangement was that it became temporarily permanent, and stayed that way for over a year and a half since the time I put it in.
You can see it in the picture below.
So after I had the wall mount in place, a whole bunch of things had to go. First the big table. Then all the bits of stuff that had been stored under the desk. Even the small computer monitor went, since I rarely use both the computer and the TV at the same time.
Now my oil-PC computer is in a spot where it can be showed off a little, rather than hidden away behind all the monitors. It's great for some light websurfing or Youtube. I rearranged the shelves on the cabinet unit for the electronics and moved it to the right side where it was much less in the way - I'm still a little surprised at how I managed to fit all of the wiring and a UPS behind the cabinet. I can now finally reach the couple of light switches on the wall without having to reach around behind the cabinet. The staircase is much less blocked away now too.
There were a ton of parts that I didn't need in the kit, meant for every TV mount under the sun - I lucked out and ended up only needing the basic parts, none of the extensions were required. It was pretty straightforward, the parts were easy to assemble, and I have a ultrasonic stud finder to locate the wooden sections of the wall I had to drill into. There were plastic tubes that could stick to the wall to hold the cables running to the TV, which was very convenient. The only challenge was measuring out how high on the wall to mount the bracket, to make it the same height as before.
This wall bracket freed up an incredible amount of space in our living room. During the time Kathy was away in China, I had replaced the old TV stand with a full sized table for convenience. I used it to hold both the TV and a computer setup. Having the table space meant I used it as a table, so it was always a bit of a mess. And the space under the table was often used as storage, which was also not very pleasing to the eye. The TV was also offset to the right of centre compared to the couch. The worst part of this temporary arrangement was that it became temporarily permanent, and stayed that way for over a year and a half since the time I put it in.
You can see it in the picture below.
So after I had the wall mount in place, a whole bunch of things had to go. First the big table. Then all the bits of stuff that had been stored under the desk. Even the small computer monitor went, since I rarely use both the computer and the TV at the same time.
Now my oil-PC computer is in a spot where it can be showed off a little, rather than hidden away behind all the monitors. It's great for some light websurfing or Youtube. I rearranged the shelves on the cabinet unit for the electronics and moved it to the right side where it was much less in the way - I'm still a little surprised at how I managed to fit all of the wiring and a UPS behind the cabinet. I can now finally reach the couple of light switches on the wall without having to reach around behind the cabinet. The staircase is much less blocked away now too.
So this should probably be the way things are for a while. I've thought about trying to put the electronics cabinet into the wall to free up even more space, but it would be a much larger project to consider at a later date.
The only problem with this setup is - where the heck am I going to sit when I want to play some games on the computer?
Allen.
The only problem with this setup is - where the heck am I going to sit when I want to play some games on the computer?
Allen.
Tuesday, May 12, 2009
Crayfish Moulting / Molting
Kathy discovered that our crayfish had shed it's shell the other day - we didn't see the actual moult but we took some pictures of the discarded shell. It freaked us out at first, seeing the ripped open carapace. I mean, we've heard of it before but this is the first time seeing it. I wonder how it gets its claws to pull out of the skinny little arm sections?
The crayfish is supposed to eat it's old shell - this one seems to be doing it over a period of a week or more, not all at once. Right now, it's eaten everything except the old claw shells and about half of the carapace.
Allen.
The crayfish is supposed to eat it's old shell - this one seems to be doing it over a period of a week or more, not all at once. Right now, it's eaten everything except the old claw shells and about half of the carapace.
Allen.
Wednesday, May 6, 2009
Front yard fixup
More of a a shabby bit of dirt than an actual yard, we've neglected the front yard of our house for years. I mean, we mow it when it gets too long, and but we don't water it, and haven't really watered it since we started having watering restrictions a few years ago - the lawn mostly withered from lack of water and we stopped caring about it at that point. Looking out at it last week, it just looked really sorry, so Kathy and I decided to do something about it. We scraped away the mostly dead grass with a rake, and removed what was left of the back third to make a flower bed.
I went by one of those places that sell patio stones and various other concrete bits, and picked up about $70 worth of driveway curbing to use as the edge around the flower bed. It took 2 trips to pick it all up with our little car, but it wasn't too far away so it was all right I suppose.
After we laid down the concrete, we filled the flower bed with soil. We have a giant cube of soil in the back yard that we used while reseeding the back lawn, so I carted the soil over to the front with a hand truck and a garbage can. Since the distance was around the whole townhouse block, about 10 homes, it worked better than a wheelbarrow with a single wheel.
We also put a good amount of soil down on the remaining grass as well and reseeded the area. Kathy says she wants to plant some shrubs, and I think it should look pretty decent once it's all done.
Edit May 13 - a week later the grass is starting to grow back through the soil, and we planted some perennial plants:
Allen.
I went by one of those places that sell patio stones and various other concrete bits, and picked up about $70 worth of driveway curbing to use as the edge around the flower bed. It took 2 trips to pick it all up with our little car, but it wasn't too far away so it was all right I suppose.
After we laid down the concrete, we filled the flower bed with soil. We have a giant cube of soil in the back yard that we used while reseeding the back lawn, so I carted the soil over to the front with a hand truck and a garbage can. Since the distance was around the whole townhouse block, about 10 homes, it worked better than a wheelbarrow with a single wheel.
We also put a good amount of soil down on the remaining grass as well and reseeded the area. Kathy says she wants to plant some shrubs, and I think it should look pretty decent once it's all done.
Edit May 13 - a week later the grass is starting to grow back through the soil, and we planted some perennial plants:
Allen.
Tuesday, April 14, 2009
Hamburgers
I whipped these up pretty quickly while I was watching TV from the kitchen. We had some ground beef and I felt like having hamburgers, so I minced up a couple of onions and mixed it with the beef, plus some cornstarch and soy sauce that was around. I added some ginger powder - it takes the gross smell from the beef away without having bits of ginger in the meat (I dont like biting into pieces of ginger in food). I heard there is a trick to mixing ground meat - you have to stir it in ONE direction, it helps make it stickier faster instead of crumbling. I don't really know but it's what I hear.
The buns were the first googled recipe I clicked on that didn't require milk (cause I didn't have any milk at the time), and I didn't make exact measurements of the ingredients. I didn't expect them to look so nice. I wonder which recipe it was? I suppose I can find it again if I needed it.
The recipe needed one egg and one egg yolk for the egg wash, so I took out two eggs. I separated one yolk into a bowl, and added the extra egg white to the recipe.
I think I've figured out how to make a proper egg wash now. (dont laugh) After I had the whole yolk by itself in a bowl, I popped it and pulled out the skin that covered it. The remaining yolk was just the nice and smooth liquid portion inside, and once mixed with about a tablespoonful of water, looked proper at last, and worked beautifully when brushed onto the risen dough. How come recipes never tell you this stuff? Maybe I am just reading the wrong recipes.
Likewise with the sesame seeds - the recipes I've seen all say to roll your bun in the seeds, but they are not that easy to handle and lift. I experimented by sprinkling sesame on some, and spreading it on with a rub of my hand with others - I think I got better results from rubbing than sprinkling.
Anyway after I grilled the hamburgers and sliced the buns, the end result was really nice. It's too bad we didnt have any lettuce around, it would have been picture-perfect if I added some lettuce and a couple slices of tomato. Kathy and I gobbled these burgers up right quick, stopping only to take a quick snapshot first on her suggestion. We ate these with ketchup, mustard, and pickles. There is a plate of broccoli that you see the corner of, slightly off to the side. Yes, really, it's there, honest.
The buns were the first googled recipe I clicked on that didn't require milk (cause I didn't have any milk at the time), and I didn't make exact measurements of the ingredients. I didn't expect them to look so nice. I wonder which recipe it was? I suppose I can find it again if I needed it.
The recipe needed one egg and one egg yolk for the egg wash, so I took out two eggs. I separated one yolk into a bowl, and added the extra egg white to the recipe.
I think I've figured out how to make a proper egg wash now. (dont laugh) After I had the whole yolk by itself in a bowl, I popped it and pulled out the skin that covered it. The remaining yolk was just the nice and smooth liquid portion inside, and once mixed with about a tablespoonful of water, looked proper at last, and worked beautifully when brushed onto the risen dough. How come recipes never tell you this stuff? Maybe I am just reading the wrong recipes.
Likewise with the sesame seeds - the recipes I've seen all say to roll your bun in the seeds, but they are not that easy to handle and lift. I experimented by sprinkling sesame on some, and spreading it on with a rub of my hand with others - I think I got better results from rubbing than sprinkling.
Anyway after I grilled the hamburgers and sliced the buns, the end result was really nice. It's too bad we didnt have any lettuce around, it would have been picture-perfect if I added some lettuce and a couple slices of tomato. Kathy and I gobbled these burgers up right quick, stopping only to take a quick snapshot first on her suggestion. We ate these with ketchup, mustard, and pickles. There is a plate of broccoli that you see the corner of, slightly off to the side. Yes, really, it's there, honest.
Monday, February 16, 2009
Dinner Banquet Speech Ettiquette
Last week I was at one of those fancy dinner parties for a friend's association event. It was held at a nice Chinese restaurant, with a 10 course meal. I was rather looking forward to the dinner and the events they had scheduled.
However, before the dinner and events actually started, the various VIPs of course had to give their speeches and greetings. None of them kept it simple - everyone had something to say about everything apparently.
Dinner was supposed to start at 6pm but by 8:30pm, there was no food other than a couple of tangerines and soda pop that were on the tables already. So everyone was drinking the pop on an empty stomach, getting hyper on sugar and caffeine, and generally not hearing what the speeches were about. I didn't understand much of what was said, but I was told that the speeches were about the Chinese New Year, and that each section was being repeated in both English and Cantonese for everyone's benefit. The bass level on the microphone was way too high, but no one really cared cause we were all so hungry.
Eventually the restaurant got tired of the speeches and just started serving the first appetizer course to all the tables, to the cheers of all present. They followed up very quickly with 4 more courses, so quickly that we hardly had time to finish each new platter (despite the fact that we were polishing them off at a swift, famished pace.) I guess the food was starting to pile up in the kitchens and they had to be served before they got cold.
Anyways, if you are holding a dinner banquet, dont let the old codgers talk until a little food has been served, people will be much more receptive to listening to them speak BETWEEN courses rather than when starving at the beginning of dinner.
Allen.
P.s. One dinner guest at our table ate before he came to the dinner, because HE EXPECTED THIS TO HAPPEN. Apparently this is a common occurence. Sigh.
However, before the dinner and events actually started, the various VIPs of course had to give their speeches and greetings. None of them kept it simple - everyone had something to say about everything apparently.
Dinner was supposed to start at 6pm but by 8:30pm, there was no food other than a couple of tangerines and soda pop that were on the tables already. So everyone was drinking the pop on an empty stomach, getting hyper on sugar and caffeine, and generally not hearing what the speeches were about. I didn't understand much of what was said, but I was told that the speeches were about the Chinese New Year, and that each section was being repeated in both English and Cantonese for everyone's benefit. The bass level on the microphone was way too high, but no one really cared cause we were all so hungry.
Eventually the restaurant got tired of the speeches and just started serving the first appetizer course to all the tables, to the cheers of all present. They followed up very quickly with 4 more courses, so quickly that we hardly had time to finish each new platter (despite the fact that we were polishing them off at a swift, famished pace.) I guess the food was starting to pile up in the kitchens and they had to be served before they got cold.
Anyways, if you are holding a dinner banquet, dont let the old codgers talk until a little food has been served, people will be much more receptive to listening to them speak BETWEEN courses rather than when starving at the beginning of dinner.
Allen.
P.s. One dinner guest at our table ate before he came to the dinner, because HE EXPECTED THIS TO HAPPEN. Apparently this is a common occurence. Sigh.
Friday, January 16, 2009
Chen Style Tai Chi (太極拳) term 2
This Sunday, our 2nd term starts for Chen Tai Chi. Hopefully we will learn some of the names of the moves we are doing - I like the class taught by Sifu May, but I wish we knew what the steps were called so we could refer to them properly.
Ji Hong Tai Chi had an open house last week. Kathy and I were part of the demonstration routine for the Chen 1 class, to show what you could accomplish in just 1 term. There were also demonstrations for the Yang style beginner class, and advanced demonstrations for Chen and Yang - they looked very nice and we were very encouraged about what we can accomplish in the future.
At first we were wondering if people were going to show up on such a cold day, but they did, in surprisingly large numbers. There were so many people that the benches and chairs were not enough to seat them all. It's nice for the school but I wonder how they are going to manage all the potential signups.
One nice thing about Ji Hong is that the people taking the classes are all relatively young for tai chi people, average age is about 35 I think. Compared to some places where the average age is perhaps 70, Ji Hong feels like a pretty energetic Tai Chi place. (My opinion of course)
Allen.
Ji Hong Tai Chi had an open house last week. Kathy and I were part of the demonstration routine for the Chen 1 class, to show what you could accomplish in just 1 term. There were also demonstrations for the Yang style beginner class, and advanced demonstrations for Chen and Yang - they looked very nice and we were very encouraged about what we can accomplish in the future.
At first we were wondering if people were going to show up on such a cold day, but they did, in surprisingly large numbers. There were so many people that the benches and chairs were not enough to seat them all. It's nice for the school but I wonder how they are going to manage all the potential signups.
One nice thing about Ji Hong is that the people taking the classes are all relatively young for tai chi people, average age is about 35 I think. Compared to some places where the average age is perhaps 70, Ji Hong feels like a pretty energetic Tai Chi place. (My opinion of course)
Allen.
Tuesday, January 13, 2009
Bread FAIL
I made a batch of standard french roll dough and brought it over to my mother's place to bake, figuring I'd show her how I can bake bread. Wow, it went badly. First, the dough sitting in the car for the 2nd rise did so over 4 hours in cold temperatures, and I didn't let it warm up to room temperature. I just cut it like usual and formed the baugette shapes. The oven at my mom's seems to be hotter, so I over baked it too. The end result were some weird twisted burnt shapes that exploded along the side. I was pretty annoyed about it. The end result is - don't change variables and expect the end result not to change too.
Allen.
Even my yeast starter experiments looked better than that - here is the latest one for comparison:
Allen.
Even my yeast starter experiments looked better than that - here is the latest one for comparison:
Subscribe to:
Posts (Atom)